May I just make a simple enquiry and if you can, please help? I'm from Makoto Aikido in Singapore and a group of us will be attending the IAF in sept this year. After the IAF, we will be heading to Nagoya to visit Sawada Sensei for a couple of days. Can anyone advise me on the most cost effective route to Nagoya? Must we travel by domestic flight or is there another alternative such as coaches, train etc.? How long is the journey? How much is the cost? Thank you in advance! :)

Chris Li

06-07-2012, 08:55 PM

Hi everyone, I'm new. Nice to join you!

May I just make a simple enquiry and if you can, please help? I'm from Makoto Aikido in Singapore and a group of us will be attending the IAF in sept this year. After the IAF, we will be heading to Nagoya to visit Sawada Sensei for a couple of days. Can anyone advise me on the most cost effective route to Nagoya? Must we travel by domestic flight or is there another alternative such as coaches, train etc.? How long is the journey? How much is the cost? Thank you in advance! :)

Probably cheaper and faster to take the Shinkansen to Nagoya. If you're doing a lot of traveling by train the JR Pass is a great deal.

Try http://www.hyperdia.com/

Best,

Chris

Pronto29

06-07-2012, 10:43 PM

Thanks Chris!!

robin_jet_alt

06-08-2012, 03:44 AM

The cheapest way is by bus. I did it when I was a uni student. I think it takes about 5 and a half hours and can be as cheap as 3000 yen.

There was a horrendous accident recently, when a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel and drove his overnight bus into a crash barrier and then a sound-deadening wall. The bus hit the end of the wall head on and the wall sliced through the bus and killed 7, injuring many more. The resulting investigation revealed that the expressway bus industry is only lightly regulated and the rules are largely ignored. There is a maze of contracts and sub-contracts and the driver was exhausted even before he set out on the trip. (He used his rest time for one company to drive another bus on another tour for a separate company.)

So I would not touch most of the trips offered on the Rakuten website.

Best wishes,

Rennis Buchner

06-08-2012, 11:31 PM

There was a horrendous accident recently, when a bus driver fell asleep at the wheel and drove his overnight bus into a crash barrier and then a sound-deadening wall. The bus hit the end of the wall head on and the wall sliced through the bus and killed 7, injuring many more. The resulting investigation revealed that the expressway bus industry is only lightly regulated and the rules are largely ignored. There is a maze of contracts and sub-contracts and the driver was exhausted even before he set out on the trip. (He used his rest time for one company to drive another bus on another tour for a separate company.)

So I would not touch most of the trips offered on the Rakuten website.

I on the other hand have been using overnight buses to go from, first, Akita to Osaka and back, and more recently from Yamagata to Osaka and back (not to mention Tokyo) regularly for about seven years now and average 4 to 6 round trips a year. Every bus I have ever ridden has had two rotating drivers and zero issues at all. With that said everything I have ridden has either been through the major "prefectural" transit company or a major company like Kintetsu. As long as you are smart about it things should be fine. With that said, from Tokyo to Nagoya I'd probably just take the shinkansen myself.